Sermon

Romans 8 | Grace: A New Life in Christ

Flipside Christian Church

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  1. You. Without question.

  2. That is the gospel and without question.

  3. That is good news.

  4. And that's what we're studying as we go through the book of Romans.

  5. Romans is a is a profound

  6. explanation

  7. of what is the reality for those who are in Christ,

  8. who we were and who we are.

  9. I don't know how one would say that.

  10. One chapter of the Bible is better than another.

  11. They're all inspired, but it feels like Romans is better than

  12. Romans, eight is better than all the others.

  13. The Word of God

  14. is the diamond to us from God.

  15. Romans eight is the sparkle of that diamond.

  16. I forgot who was, but someone said

  17. that if you should ever drop your Bible,

  18. it should naturally open to Romans eight because you've studied it so much.

  19. Romans eight is a it's a profound chapter.

  20. We're going to take two weeks to go through it.

  21. The first 20 verses today and the 29 through 39

  22. next week.

  23. Romans eight

  24. has the answer to every,

  25. evil that we go experience past, present, and future.

  26. Here's what I mean.

  27. When you're haunted by your past, Romans eight,

  28. there's no condemnation about your past.

  29. When you're frustrated by your present.

  30. Romans 828.

  31. We know that God works things together for good.

  32. When you're anxious about your future.

  33. Romans eight 3039.

  34. Nothing can separate you from the love of God.

  35. So whether there's this haunting thing.

  36. Yeah, but my past is

  37. as far as Christ is good. God is concerned.

  38. There's no condemnation about that.

  39. When you just frustrate the way things are right now,

  40. you can know that even in the frustration, God's working it together.

  41. Don't worry

  42. when you're anxious about the future. Hey,

  43. remember that God loves you and you can never be separated

  44. from that love and nothing to worry about.

  45. Do you understand? Yes.

  46. So it's going to be fun to unpack these things together.

  47. There's a lot to get through

  48. and so that we can get through it.

  49. Verse one.

  50. There is therefore now

  51. no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

  52. When Paul says, there's therefore now the therefore is for a reason.

  53. It's therefore the reason of chapter seven.

  54. Chapter seven is this long

  55. treatise about what a failure he is.

  56. As a religious person, you just can't keep all of the religious law.

  57. He's a he's enslaved to his own sin nature.

  58. You just can't be right all the time.

  59. And at the end of it, he says, how do I get free from this?

  60. He says, thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

  61. Therefore, because of what Jesus has done,

  62. there is no condemnation for those who are in Jesus.

  63. That's what he's saying.

  64. When Paul uses the words, there's no condemnation.

  65. Think of it like this.

  66. There's not even one ounce of condemnation against you.

  67. If you're in Christ, there's not even one ounce

  68. of condemnation that the father that God the Father holds against you.

  69. There's not even a glimmer of a shadow.

  70. There is no condemnation.

  71. There's not even a hint of any condemnation against you

  72. if you're in Christ Jesus.

  73. Complete freedom

  74. from the sin of our past, already freed from the sin of our future.

  75. There's no condemnation.

  76. Please don't ever erroneously think

  77. because this line of thinking is directly from the devil.

  78. It's a lie from the devil.

  79. When we start thinking,

  80. okay, now I know why I lost my job.

  81. I know why I'm sick.

  82. Because God's punishing me

  83. for what I've done.

  84. That is the life of the devil. Why?

  85. Because there's no condemnation.

  86. God does not condemn you over what you've

  87. done, and is not condemning you over what you will do,

  88. because he took the condemnation that we do deserve and put it on his son,

  89. so that now when we're in His Son, he, Jesus, already absolved

  90. the condemnation, though, so that for us there is now therefore no condemnation.

  91. God doesn't hold grudges.

  92. God doesn't get payback.

  93. Don't ever fall

  94. prey to the devil that makes you think, well, yeah, it's because I screwed up.

  95. So God's punishing me now. That's not how God works.

  96. There may be

  97. legitimate natural consequences to our actions.

  98. And sometimes God lets us feel the full weight of those.

  99. Sometimes he's merciful, and we don't.

  100. When those times come, here's what we do.

  101. We repent.

  102. God, I agree with you.

  103. And then we say, father, give me all that your grace allows.

  104. And let God temper back then natural consequence.

  105. Does that make sense? You follow me.

  106. But as far as God getting upset and leveling something against you,

  107. he doesn't work that way. There's no condemnation.

  108. You follow me? Yes.

  109. I hope you're understanding the liberation of this.

  110. No longer does anybody who is in Christ

  111. walk around with oh my gosh, God is still

  112. I gotta I got a lot to make up for it.

  113. Like when

  114. when am I going to be able to appease him?

  115. Those are lies from the devil.

  116. And as long as the devil can convince you that that's who God is

  117. and that's his character,

  118. you will live under the shout of condemnation that is not yours to own.

  119. That's already been leveled against Christ.

  120. And he has set you.

  121. He set me completely free of it.

  122. No, not even a shadow.

  123. Not an ounce.

  124. Don't own something that belongs to another.

  125. Your condemnation belongs to Jesus.

  126. That's pretty good news, Billy, right?

  127. Yeah.

  128. I don't watch this.

  129. Verses two three, four

  130. for, I'm going to

  131. Paul is going to write a like he's he's he's very verbose.

  132. There's a lot of words he uses and he writes like a lawyer.

  133. I'm going to read it all and you might get lost in the words.

  134. We're going to come back and talk through it all.

  135. For the love. The spirit of life has set

  136. you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

  137. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh,

  138. could not do by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh

  139. and for sin he condemns sin in the flesh in order

  140. that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled

  141. in us who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit.

  142. You got it?

  143. Let me, let me, let me slow down and explain some stuff.

  144. Paul uses this word law, but he use it in two different ways.

  145. And it's very important to understand the ways he uses this word law.

  146. One of the ways Paul uses

  147. the word law is the driving force and the impulse.

  148. It just is what it is.

  149. We don't establish it.

  150. We haven't declared it.

  151. It just is like the law of gravity.

  152. There's no act of Congress or Municipality.

  153. That said, from this day forward, gravity exists, right?

  154. It did.

  155. The second way the law is used as as a legal rule

  156. and a boundary like the speed limit.

  157. Municipalities decide what the speed limit is.

  158. So if that's not a natural, that's just what the city has said.

  159. And so if you bypass that, you've broken the law.

  160. You follow.

  161. Okay.

  162. So in it, when Paul says in and verse two,

  163. for the law of the spirit of life has set you free.

  164. In Jesus, in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

  165. He's using the first idea, the driving force, the impulse

  166. for the driving force of the spirit that is now in you because you're in

  167. Christ, has set you free because you used to live

  168. according to the driving force than the impulse of sin.

  169. You understand?

  170. So the driving for the law that was at work in you

  171. before you came to Jesus was the driving force of sin.

  172. But now that you're in Christ, there's a new driving force there, new law

  173. inside you, a driving force, an impulse.

  174. Okay.

  175. And the

  176. reason Jesus had to do that is this verse three, For God has done

  177. what the law, the legal rules and boundaries

  178. were not able to do by sending his son.

  179. So when, when God's when the father sent the son and the son died on the cross,

  180. he fulfilled all the legal rules and boundaries of the written religious law.

  181. He fulfilled it all.

  182. So now when we're in Jesus, he's fulfilled all the legal rules and boundaries.

  183. So now I'm free to put to death the old driving force of sin,

  184. and live in new life of the new driving force of the spirit.

  185. You follow?

  186. Am I clear?

  187. I gotta be clear on this.

  188. Anybody any questions?

  189. All right.

  190. So now we follow this new law according to the spirit.

  191. When we went through

  192. chapter seven last week, I don't know if any of you picked up on it.

  193. There are 47 personal pronouns that Paul uses in chapter 747.

  194. I, me, my.

  195. And it's all about his failure.

  196. It's all about his sin.

  197. He cannot make his life right, for it's all self-focused

  198. because he's talking about how wretched he how many we get that we get.

  199. If you and I can't live up to our own standard,

  200. how do we think we're gonna live up to the God standard?

  201. And so, Paul, 47 personal pronouns

  202. in chapters one through seven of Romans.

  203. The Spirit of God.

  204. The spirit is only used two times in this chapter alone.

  205. Chapter eight. It use 19 times.

  206. Here's why.

  207. Because Paul is drawing a line in the sand between the self and the Spirit of God.

  208. He's making the

  209. distinction in this in your self, in your flesh.

  210. You have no power

  211. with the Spirit of God.

  212. You have both power and capacity.

  213. I have a new power in me.

  214. I don't have to live that way and not have a new capacity.

  215. I'm able to, not because of who I am, because who I'm in.

  216. You follow.

  217. Sometimes I feel like

  218. I get a lot more excited than you do.

  219. For the mind set on the flesh.

  220. This is what this is.

  221. Verse seven.

  222. Let me go back to five.

  223. Let me go to verse five.

  224. For those who live

  225. according to the flesh, set their minds on the things of the flesh.

  226. But those who live according to the spirit set their minds on things of the spirit.

  227. For to set your mind on the flesh is death,

  228. but to set your mind on the spirit is life, and peace.

  229. For the mind that is set on the flesh

  230. is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law.

  231. Indeed, it cannot submit to God's law.

  232. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

  233. Let me show you what this is saying.

  234. When Paul uses this word flesh, the mind that set on the flesh,

  235. what he's talking about is, is the mind that still on just worldly stuff.

  236. And Jesus addressed this back in Matthew seven,

  237. and in Matthew seven he says, the mind that is set on the flesh,

  238. the worldly stuff, is worried about what you're going to wear.

  239. You're worried about what you're going to eat.

  240. You're worried about what you're going to drive.

  241. You're worried about your retirement, right?

  242. It's all the things that we get wrapped up in in this world.

  243. And he said, the mind that set on the flesh is

  244. it's just it's just preoccupied with all this stuff.

  245. And he said that

  246. mind is hostile to God, not contrary to God.

  247. Actual hostility towards him, towards God,

  248. because a mind that is set in the flesh, the things of this world

  249. is so worried about the things that this rule

  250. that they cannot live by faith.

  251. And the Bible says the only way to please God.

  252. Hebrews 11 six is by faith.

  253. It's the mind that says.

  254. But what about my pursuit of all the

  255. all the important things in life?

  256. And when that is our mindset,

  257. when that's our drive,

  258. it's an indication we are living according to the flesh.

  259. And we cannot please God that a life that's driven by the pursuit

  260. of the things that is hostile to God,

  261. not just contrary. And

  262. and so the

  263. it's a mind that set by what can I acquire,

  264. what can I enjoy.

  265. What can be my acquisition?

  266. What.

  267. Here's how you know where your mind is.

  268. Just as a real simple question.

  269. Ask yourself what dominates dominates

  270. my mind and heart.

  271. What dominates it?

  272. The things of this world.

  273. Eat. Sleep. Drink.

  274. Live. Drive.

  275. Retire. Future.

  276. When? That's it.

  277. We cease living by faith.

  278. And the faith is the only way to please God.

  279. A life that's focused on that cannot please God.

  280. You understand?

  281. And it's just.

  282. That's how we used to live.

  283. And like this law in us that drove us to all this earthly stuff.

  284. But now

  285. in Christ, there's a new law in us.

  286. I don't have to live obsessed and consumed with the acquisition.

  287. Of things.

  288. Worry.

  289. The verses nine and 11.

  290. You, however,

  291. are not in the flesh but in the spirit.

  292. If in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.

  293. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

  294. Verse ten.

  295. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead

  296. because of sin, the spirit of the spirit is life.

  297. Because of righteousness.

  298. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,

  299. he raised Jesus Christ Jesus from the dead will also

  300. give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

  301. Here's what he's saying.

  302. When someone accepts Jesus as the leader of their life, immediately

  303. the Bible teaches that the father implants his spirit in them.

  304. A new law.

  305. When that spirit is inside of us,

  306. we're no longer slaves to the old law.

  307. And because we're not slaves to the old law.

  308. We have a new impulse, as you actually have the desire

  309. to walk rightly before God.

  310. Not because you have to, not because you're religious,

  311. but because there's a new driving law in your inside.

  312. Right? Do you understand?

  313. Some of you feel this,

  314. that there's a new impulse in you.

  315. You're not under compulsion because there's no condemnation,

  316. but there's a desire.

  317. There's a true want to.

  318. That's the Holy Spirit in you.

  319. The purpose of the Holy Spirit in us is to make us holy.

  320. That's the purpose of the spirit.

  321. Now, we think that if we allow God to our lives, we will be happy.

  322. The purpose of the

  323. Holy Spirit in us is not to make us happy, but to make us holy.

  324. Here's the good thing.

  325. The quickest way to happiness is holiness.

  326. Some of the most miserable people on the planet

  327. are Christians who are not walking in line with the spirit.

  328. They're miserable.

  329. And if that's one of you,

  330. I have a lot of churches I could recommend for you

  331. rather than their.

  332. I, like God, said I'm a put my spirit in you because make you holy.

  333. Because the quickest way to your happiness is holiness.

  334. And this is the new life that he's given us.

  335. And so we don't have to obey

  336. the impulses of the old life anymore.

  337. Now look at verses 12 and 13.

  338. Oh, let me say this. Let me say this is important.

  339. Verse

  340. one says, there's no condemnation, right?

  341. This passage talks about the Holy Spirit's invigoration.

  342. So gives us no condemnation.

  343. Plus the Holy Spirit invigoration equals life transformation.

  344. That's how this works.

  345. Some of us have tried to transform our lives by good behavior

  346. and new habits and self-discipline, and all of that falls

  347. far short, right?

  348. And what Scripture tells us is, listen,

  349. in Christ there's no condemnation.

  350. And when you take no condemnation and have the Holy Spirit's invigoration,

  351. that's what creates the life transformation, not because you have to,

  352. because you're under no obligation, because there's no condemnation.

  353. Now there's a new law inside.

  354. So I want to do you understand?

  355. And so then what we have to do.

  356. Because now there's a new one too.

  357. So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh.

  358. The old law to live according to that old law of flesh.

  359. For if you live according to that flesh, you'll die.

  360. Pause button.

  361. When Adam was in the Garden of Eden

  362. and God said, if you eat of this tree, you will surely die.

  363. He ate of the tree.

  364. Did he die immediately?

  365. No, because God wasn't talking about immediate death.

  366. He was talking about spiritual death.

  367. And he says, if you live according to that law of sin,

  368. you are dead spiritually and forever separated from me.

  369. So but if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body,

  370. what you live.

  371. You live.

  372. So the old law that was in us before we came to Jesus,

  373. if you've come to Jesus, this old law was, was, was, was raging inside.

  374. Now you come to Jesus, the Holy Spirit.

  375. There's a new law. Here's what happens. The old law.

  376. The old law screams that you everyday feed me.

  377. Pay attention to me.

  378. Don't let me die.

  379. Because the new law in us, the Spirit of God in us,

  380. is starting to starve out the old one.

  381. And that old one doesn't want to die too quick.

  382. And so that old one screams,

  383. don't ignore me.

  384. Pay attention to me.

  385. I still matter.

  386. I still got you.

  387. Feed me

  388. right.

  389. That's the war that goes on.

  390. And we have to work

  391. with the Holy Spirit's work.

  392. To allow that newness to start to really go.

  393. So it's like when you're right is if you ride a bicycle uphill.

  394. That wasn't electric.

  395. You ride a bicycle uphill and you're working hard.

  396. It's really easy.

  397. And the moment you stop pedaling, what happens is,

  398. yeah, you slow down and you fall over or go backwards.

  399. So the Holy Spirit is working in us

  400. to ride that bike uphill to learn a new life.

  401. So we work with the mechanism of it.

  402. The moment we stop working in conjunction with the Holy Spirit.

  403. The old analogy is you got two dogs, you only feed one.

  404. Which one is going to live?

  405. The one you feed.

  406. Other parts of Scripture says, put to death the deeds of the body.

  407. Starve it out, starve it,

  408. though you've been made to act like it

  409. and take this old life and starve that to death.

  410. And as you do, it will scream at you, and it will yell at you,

  411. and it will demand attention, and it will demand to be fed.

  412. And you just keep starving it out.

  413. Not because it makes you a good Christian because there's no condemnation anyway,

  414. but because it allows the

  415. new law, new spirit to thrive.

  416. You understand?

  417. This stuff is so good.

  418. Verses 1417.

  419. Look at this.

  420. It's a long section. Let me read it.

  421. We'll talk about it.

  422. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons and daughters.

  423. Children of God.

  424. Let me just.

  425. I just had of the slide.

  426. Though.

  427. Every human is a creation of God.

  428. Not everybody is a child of God.

  429. Only those who have a relationship with Jesus

  430. by because of, through faith,

  431. because of grace, is a child of God.

  432. So everyone is a creation.

  433. Children of God

  434. are those every relationship through Jesus.

  435. So we clear

  436. for all who are led by the Spirit of God, our sons and daughters of God.

  437. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear,

  438. but you have received the spirit of adoption

  439. as sons and daughters, as children by whom we cry, ABBA, father.

  440. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

  441. And if children, then heirs heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ provided

  442. here it is we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

  443. Let me unpack this.

  444. When Paul talks about adoption,

  445. adoption was not it was not known in the Jewish world.

  446. Jews had no concept of adoption.

  447. Okay, once born in the family or the family, there was no adoption.

  448. The Jewish and the Roman world, this was a huge thing.

  449. Adoption was huge and they understood what it meant.

  450. Let me tell you what adoption meant in Rome with Romans.

  451. When they would adopt someone, a benevolent person or family of means

  452. would find somebody worthy of adoption.

  453. Not just children, but grown adults.

  454. And they would, offer to adopt them into their family.

  455. And when that transaction happened, all of the debt, all of the shame,

  456. all of the family baggage was erased from every account.

  457. And the one who was adopted in the family.

  458. Now was credited with every right,

  459. every financial blessing, every authority, as if a blood child.

  460. That's the power of adoption.

  461. That everything that was is no more. Why?

  462. Because we know. Verse one. No condemnation.

  463. And then the family I'm adopted into.

  464. I now have all the rights, all the privilege,

  465. all the authority of that family.

  466. And Paul will say, if we are children of God,

  467. adopted by him, we are heirs of God.

  468. And what co-heirs with Christ

  469. get this as adopted children.

  470. We have every blessing

  471. that Jesus has is ours.

  472. The relationship.

  473. Y'all believe you're getting it.

  474. The relationship that the son has with the father

  475. is our relationship with the father.

  476. Heirs of God.

  477. Co-heirs with Christ.

  478. Every spiritual blessing,

  479. every ounce of beauty of relationship and authority that Jesus has

  480. with the father I have with the father, and you have with the father in Christ.

  481. Amazing.

  482. So why do we walk around like the dirty step kids?

  483. I don't want to buy anybody.

  484. I lost my place here.

  485. I want to understand what this is.

  486. We've been adopted.

  487. And so now we cry out, ABBA, father!

  488. The Jewish

  489. mind held God in such high esteem they wouldn't even say his name

  490. like it was so holy or didn't belong on dirty mouths.

  491. Keep your name out of my mouth. No.

  492. They would just write the name.

  493. They wouldn't even say it.

  494. So for the Jew, this is like.

  495. What are you saying?

  496. What Paul is saying here.

  497. Now we call the father ABBA.

  498. It means daddy.

  499. It's a it's a very intimate term of affection as a child.

  500. As his beloved father. Daddy, Papa.

  501. Now, because I've been adopted.

  502. I'm not an outsider.

  503. I am a co-chair with Christ himself.

  504. So that now my relationship to the father

  505. is as my papa.

  506. Yeah, man.

  507. I still remember when my boys were little, and I would come through the door

  508. and they would run on daddy.

  509. That's who

  510. the father is for those in Christ.

  511. His daddy.

  512. Man, I know that some of you

  513. carry around a pretty profound daddy wound.

  514. And you know what it's like.

  515. Unfortunately,

  516. to have a father who's disappointed in you.

  517. And you know what it's like to have a daddy who at one time

  518. had high hopes for you.

  519. But you feel like all you've done.

  520. Is confirmed.

  521. Every negative thing he thought and said.

  522. And I'm sorry.

  523. That is not the father.

  524. It is a father who loves you so much.

  525. He placed all of your condemnation

  526. on his beloved son.

  527. Who adopts you now

  528. into his family and says all that stuff is gone.

  529. You have all the rights,

  530. all the relationship, all my love.

  531. How proud I am of you that I had for my son.

  532. I have for you.

  533. So yeah, I am your papa.

  534. I'm such a good papa.

  535. Isn't that good news?

  536. Oh, I forgot this part.

  537. All this is ours, providing we suffer with him.

  538. I got it.

  539. What?

  540. Like, go back to the no condemnation and go back to the papa on the daddy.

  541. And that gets all the adoption. I like that.

  542. Suffer with you? Yeah.

  543. You know why? Because suffering is part of belonging.

  544. And the Bible

  545. says if Jesus suffered, we shouldn't think we're going to get out of it.

  546. First Peter two. First Peter four.

  547. So same thing.

  548. Let's go on.

  549. Verse 18.

  550. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time

  551. are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed in us.

  552. He says, look, here's the deal.

  553. Our suffering is on one side, and this scale

  554. and all this glory that's waiting for us is on this side.

  555. And he says, the suffering is not the need.

  556. Done. Compare.

  557. Paul said the same thing in Second Corinthians.

  558. This light and momentary suffering pales in comparison to the weight of glory

  559. that's ours. There's going to be those times.

  560. But in comparison to eternity,

  561. light and momentary,

  562. we're going to talk about that in a minute.

  563. I want to come back to it, but I just need you to say that.

  564. Look at verses 19 through 22.

  565. Let me just read this

  566. verse.

  567. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing

  568. of the sons of God, for the creation was subjected to futility.

  569. Not willingly, but because of him who suggested it in hope

  570. that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption,

  571. and obtain a freedom of the glory of the children of God.

  572. I'm going to explain this just saying with me.

  573. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together

  574. with the pains of childbirth until now. Here's what he's saying.

  575. There's a progression in place here and the progression.

  576. Verse 18, verse 20, in verse 21 says suffering, futility, corruption.

  577. There's a downward slide of this whole thing.

  578. Now when God created everything, he pronounced it good, which meant beautiful.

  579. It was perfect.

  580. But then sin entered the world.

  581. And ever since sin enter the world, it's been this slide of suffering,

  582. futility and corruption.

  583. So much so that creation is groaning out because of this right now.

  584. Like the creation was like, oh, and here it's the law.

  585. The second law of thermodynamics is at play.

  586. Does it at smart people?

  587. Nobody smart.

  588. I love my church.

  589. But the second law of thermodynamics.

  590. Anybody know what is it?

  591. Okay, well, I love my church.

  592. I'll tell you.

  593. It's the law of chaos or the law of entropy.

  594. What's the second law of thermodynamics says it's left unto itself.

  595. If things deteriorate, they don't get better.

  596. That's why evolution has such a hard time with science.

  597. Left unto itself, things deteriorate.

  598. They don't get better.

  599. It's the second law of thermodynamics, and it is the law.

  600. And what the Scripture is saying is because sin entered the world,

  601. we experienced this not just creation,

  602. but you and I.

  603. If you're old enough,

  604. you know you're experiencing the law of entropy

  605. and the law of deterioration,

  606. right?

  607. He said. Sin enter the world.

  608. This is a result.

  609. And what we see is this groaning and it's going from

  610. it's going from suffering to telling you to create to corruption.

  611. Verse 23,

  612. and not only the creation, but we ourselves,

  613. who have the first fruits of the spirit, groan inwardly as we wait

  614. eagerly for the adoption of sons or the redemption of our bodies.

  615. Like we experience this and we're groaning for this.

  616. Like God, you got to do something at some point.

  617. You got to make stuff better because this is just this is horrible.

  618. As Paul writes, there's three groanings

  619. he mentions and he mentions the third groaning here, watch this verse 26.

  620. Likewise, the spirit helps us in our weaknesses,

  621. for we don't know how to pray for what we ought,

  622. but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

  623. So there's three groanings that are taking place the creation's groaning.

  624. We're groaning, and the Holy Spirit's groaning.

  625. The creation is groaning because it's going through entropy,

  626. and it's waiting for this new childbirth of a new creation.

  627. We groan because we're experiencing the same entropy, and because of sin,

  628. we're just deteriorating and we're groaning for this new life

  629. in heaven, this this new reality.

  630. But the Holy Spirit groans.

  631. Let me tell you how the Holy Spirit groans.

  632. There's two ways. One

  633. new leader live off with verse 27,

  634. and he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the spirit,

  635. because the spirit intercedes for the saints

  636. according to the will of God, the Holy One of the ways the Holy Spirit grows.

  637. And this is happening right now, the one of the ways the Holy Spirit grows

  638. is he enters the Holy Spirit, intercedes

  639. in our prayers, and translates our prayers to the father.

  640. Because sometimes, you know, I don't know what we should pray,

  641. and sometimes we pray things that are not the father's will.

  642. And so the Holy Spirit sits there in intercession and says, no, no, no.

  643. We we all know Carl didn't always talk about

  644. let me interpret his prayers.

  645. The God did this for Paul in the Bible.

  646. The Bible says that Paul had this thorn in his flesh.

  647. He prayed three seasons of his life that God would take it away.

  648. And he finally says, God never took it away, but he gave me grace.

  649. Here's what was happening as he's

  650. praying in the sea these drought seasons that God would take this thorn away.

  651. The Holy Spirit's going, he is you

  652. know, God.

  653. Father. We know that's not that's not what you want for Paul.

  654. That's what he thinks. That's what you want.

  655. He thinks that you want to heal him.

  656. But we both know that's not what's.

  657. So let me tell you what. He's really praying. He's really praying for Grace.

  658. He doesn't know. He doesn't know he's praying for grace.

  659. So, father, let me interpret this prayer.

  660. Give him grace.

  661. And I was like, yeah, that's what I want to do all the time.

  662. If we would just agree with me and the Holy Spirit, intercede and groan.

  663. So our prayers are in line with the father's wills that make sense.

  664. That's why sometimes when you are praying, nothing happens

  665. because the Holy Spirit's interceding for us

  666. and turning our words into the father's will and groaning on our behalf.

  667. Now verse

  668. 28 is going to be the kicker that's going to make that okay

  669. the other way. The Holy Spirit groans.

  670. And I'm not going to get into this right now.

  671. I just need to address it is through what the Bible calls the gift of tongues.

  672. And the gift of tongues.

  673. Primarily in the Bible

  674. is the ability, the supernatural be that God gives someone who doesn't know

  675. a known language to speak that language for the proclamation of the gospel.

  676. That's primarily how it's used.

  677. There are a few other instances where there is a supernatural gift

  678. given to a person that utters a language that's known to God, and no human,

  679. so that they can communicate to God in a very direct way

  680. without the interpretation necessarily, of our normal prayer life.

  681. The interesting thing about that is when someone genuinely, you know

  682. and don't think what you see on television

  683. is the way it goes, because that's ridiculous. But,

  684. generally when someone expresses that,

  685. they don't even know what they're saying, it's just this language to God.

  686. And, and it's it's not very often.

  687. And it is.

  688. Please understand the that gift of tongues

  689. is not by any stretch, any sign of any special anything.

  690. Paul said, I wish that's the least gift you would want.

  691. I wish you would really have the gift of prophecy,

  692. which is to interpret God's Word and tell the truth of it. So.

  693. But that is so all of that, okay, all of that

  694. gets us to the crux of of this section in verse 28.

  695. And we know

  696. we don't hope, we don't think

  697. we know that for those who love God, all things work

  698. together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

  699. This is the first you need to have underlined.

  700. You need to have memorized.

  701. You need to have highlighted.

  702. This is a verse you got to come back to.

  703. There are someone who said that this verse

  704. is the soft pillow for a tired heart.

  705. There are some things we will never know

  706. and we got to be okay without knowing them.

  707. When we get to heaven, you and I will not know all things.

  708. There's only one who knows all things, and that is God.

  709. There are some things we don't know and we will never know

  710. when we got to be okay with that.

  711. There are some things we should know as Christians.

  712. We should know Ephesians for spiritual warfare first Corinthians 12.

  713. Spiritual gifts. There are some things we should know,

  714. and though there are some things we don't know

  715. and we'll never know, there are some things we should know.

  716. There are some things we do know.

  717. And one of the things we do know is Romans 828.

  718. We know that God works all things together for the good of those

  719. who love him, and are called according to his purpose.

  720. When the Bible says, when Paul users work together, this is the you.

  721. We have to understand this.

  722. All things work together.

  723. That word work together is a Greek word called synergy.

  724. Oh, synergy.

  725. And it means literally to combine according to the activity of two or more

  726. agents to produce a joint effect greater than the sum of their separate effects.

  727. Okay, in simple terms,

  728. it means the sum of a whole bunch of stuff

  729. is greater than the

  730. pain of the individual parts.

  731. God works all of the pain points

  732. of the individual parts together and synergize.

  733. Is it for something good

  734. that's working together?

  735. That's synergy.

  736. You and I live in the world

  737. of our reality, of the individual pain points,

  738. and all we see is the individual pain point.

  739. And because we live in this world of individual pain points,

  740. when we experience those pain points, we cry out, God, why,

  741. oh God, how could you let God?

  742. Why are you allowing God step in?

  743. God, do something. God, this isn't right.

  744. This isn't good at all

  745. because all we're doing is resisting in the individual pain points.

  746. But what the truth of the Bible says is God works all those individual pain

  747. points and sinner Jesus, all of them. He doesn't.

  748. He doesn't erase them.

  749. He doesn't remove them.

  750. He works within all those of individual pain points and synergize

  751. all of it together for good.

  752. Do you understand?

  753. When we cry out, God, change the pain, pain point,

  754. change the pain point, change the pain point.

  755. God says, no, that's not what I have ever said.

  756. I will do what I will do.

  757. When you go through loss,

  758. when you're in, feel like you're not wanted, when you experience

  759. pain, when you're sick, when you're all these things.

  760. I am energizing it all.

  761. You're not going through it because I'm condemning you.

  762. Because there's

  763. no condemnation

  764. and because I love you so much.

  765. You are my son and my daughter,

  766. and you have all the rights of relations with you that Jesus has.

  767. And I synergize everything in Jesus's life.

  768. Then Jesus go through pain.

  769. You think the garden, the crucifixion wasn't pain.

  770. And he said, father, take it from me.

  771. And the foe said, no, I am using it for good.

  772. And so because he suffered so well, we.

  773. Are you understanding?

  774. Romans 828.

  775. Can I trust God's synergy?

  776. That's the question.

  777. And when you know that fact.

  778. I'm not frustrated in my present.

  779. Because God,

  780. in this present moment right now is synergize ING it

  781. for those who love him.

  782. If you don't

  783. love Christ and are the fathers through the son,

  784. your pain point will be all you know

  785. and it will get too much for you.

  786. For me, I know.

  787. Now let me say this.

  788. Synergize with all things together for good.

  789. Here's the thing.

  790. God is the one who defines what is good,

  791. not you. And I.

  792. Because our default of the definition of good

  793. is ease, comfort, pleasure.

  794. Right.

  795. And so God says, no, I'm standardizing it for good.

  796. But I'm going to be the definer of good, not you.

  797. And that's why the Bible says, Jesus, for the joy

  798. set before him endured the cross, because that cross was not good pleasure.

  799. More fun.

  800. God defined it as good.

  801. And that gave

  802. Christ joy to go through that pain point

  803. because he knew father was synergize ING it for good.

  804. That's the promise of God

  805. for those who are in Christ.

  806. When we go through those pain

  807. points, we want a miracle.

  808. A miracle is when God intervenes

  809. in the normal stream of human history and changes he.

  810. He changes the natural laws.

  811. He steps in and changes the natural laws.

  812. That's not oftentimes how God works.

  813. It's a miracle.

  814. The way God energizes things is through his providence, not his miracle.

  815. Providence says this Providence says I will.

  816. I won't circumvent natural law and do a miracle.

  817. I will work within natural laws to synergize all things together.

  818. So when we go through those pain points, we want them here.

  819. God, God, step in right now.

  820. God change you right now. God move right now.

  821. God act right now.

  822. And God says, I'm not going to, providentially all synergize

  823. all things together.

  824. Trust me in this I love you.

  825. You're mine. I got you.

  826. Let me work my providence.

  827. Be patient and trust.

  828. I am providentially

  829. synergize all things.

  830. And the question we have to ask

  831. ourselves, is that enough?

  832. Is it enough for you to trust him that way?

  833. There's a lot we could still talk through.

  834. But I just want to leave you this.

  835. If you are in Christ, there's no condemnation.

  836. You got nothing to make up for.

  837. If you're in Christ,

  838. you have been adopted as his child.

  839. And all the rights

  840. and blessings of Christ himself are yours.

  841. As an co-heirs with Christ.

  842. And right now he is synergism.

  843. Even your pain points for good.

  844. You can trust him

  845. and I invite you to

  846. when you get this it.

  847. I don't know how to explain it.

  848. It changes your entire perspective about life, about your life and about the world.

  849. There

  850. is so much stability and there's so much comfort

  851. and there's so much ease and there's so much liberation.

  852. When you know this.

  853. When you start to embody this truth,

  854. it's just beautiful.

  855. Some of you are or are way too

  856. miserable and too stressed and too worried.

  857. Because you have not internalized the truth of these passages,

  858. it's yours for the taking.

  859. Why don't you pray with me?

  860. Father, I thank you

  861. that you've loved us with an everlasting love.

  862. I thank you that you are for us and not against us.

  863. I think that we can stand before you with no condemnation,

  864. and that we don't have to make up for anything of our past,

  865. and that we don't have to ensure anything of our future.

  866. I think that you've chosen us

  867. and adopted us as your children, your kid,

  868. your son, your daughter.

  869. That you are right now, in this moment, synergize

  870. all things, even the pain points for good.

  871. Father, we want to believe that we have to believe it.

  872. And we want to trust you.

  873. So would you.

  874. Here in this moment, these hearts that are turning

  875. entrust to you.

  876. Friends, I don't invite you in this moment

  877. to step into this new life.

  878. It begins with this

  879. just saying to the Father God, I agree.

  880. I have lived outside of the boundaries of your law and I'm a sinner.

  881. And I accept what Jesus did on the cross

  882. for my forgiveness.

  883. Thank you that I stand before you

  884. with no condemnation, completely free.

  885. Then tell him

  886. thank you that you have adopted me into your family,

  887. and I receive all the spiritual blessings

  888. that you would give me.

  889. Not because I'm good,

  890. but because I'm adopted.

  891. And I will trust.

  892. And I will rest the best I can

  893. in the confidence and conviction that you are.

  894. Synergize

  895. all things together for good.

  896. And I allow you to define what is good.

  897. Help me love you more

  898. and trust you more fully.

  899. Father, I thank you for this day.

  900. I thank you for these moments.

  901. I thank you for your word that continues to speak to us.

  902. I pray, father, that as we take steps

  903. into living out and flesh out this new life,

  904. that you would constantly remind us through the spirit within us,

  905. that there is no condemnation, that we are your kids, that your synergize.

  906. All things are working things together.

  907. We can trust you.

  908. You are a good father and you do that which is good.

  909. Have us,

  910. have us.

  911. We give ourselves to you.

  912. In your name I pray.

  913. Amen.

  914. Listen, I love you and I love going through scripture with you.

  915. It's so good. Yeah.

  916. Is Romans eight not just wonderful?

  917. It's incredible.

  918. I know some of you do.

  919. I want you all to love it.

  920. Like this is just good stuff.

  921. So here's this week.

  922. Read Romans eight, the whole the whole 39 verses.

  923. Okay?

  924. Let the Holy Spirit bring to your remembrance what we talked about

  925. and then read ahead for what we're going to talk about next week.

  926. It just gets better from here.

  927. If you know it, it just gets better from here.

  928. And live that live.

  929. As though there's no condemnation

  930. and live as a full fledged

  931. child of the father.

  932. You understand I'm saying not a

  933. all the rights, all the earth are all

  934. of Christ himself.

  935. It's amazing.

  936. And then be convinced that this week when stuff happens,

  937. your mind is going to go immediately to war.

  938. I can't wait to see how you're going to synergize this one.

  939. But I know you are.

  940. You understand that he is.

  941. We're celebrating and he is worthy to to trust him.

  942. All right, let's let's sing.